James Haskell revealed the Prince and Princess of Wales have ‘a wicked sense of humour’ on Good Morning Britain on Monday.
The former British and Irish Lion, 39, joined Mike Tindall, 46, on the ITV show to discuss their sit down with his wife Zara’s cousin Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton for their podcast The Good, the Bad & the Rugby.
The surprise appearance by the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by the Princess Royal, on The Good, the Bad and The Rugby, delighted royal fans when it was announced last September.
Speaking today about William and Kate Middleton, James said: ‘That podcast was brilliant because we see them at their best, obviously they have a wicked sense of humour, in this country in particularly we obviously put people on a pedestal, but they are a regular family, an incredible family they do a lot for this country but a regular family.
Speaking on the podcast Kate revealed herself and William have never finished a game of tennis between them because it becomes a ‘mental challenge’.
James Haskell (right) revealed Prince William and Kate Middleton have ‘a wicked sense of humour’ on Good Morning Britain with Mike Tindall (left) on Monday
The episode, which was recorded during the Rugby World Cup, invited the royals onto the podcast as patrons of the WRU, RFU & SRU.
During the discussion at Windsor Castle, the subject of competitiveness was raised, with Kate and William being asked about competition between them and one of the presenters revealing that Mike had compared them to Monica from sitcom Friends, who is known for her insatiable desire to always be the best at everything.
He said: ‘I’m not going to lie… but Mike has made out both of you are super, super competitive, a bit like Monica from Friends, and if you guys play table tennis it will go on for hours and hours, and be like, double or quits.’
To which Kate replied: ‘I’m really not that competitive, I don’t know where this has come from.’
She then joked that she and William have never managed to finish a game of tennis, giggling as she explained that ‘it becomes a mental challenge between the two of us’.
Mike then asked if the couple’s three children Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, are showing signs of competitiveness.
Princess Anne interjected to say: ‘Just a little bit, I would suggest.’
Kate revealed: ‘What’s interesting is that they all obviously [have] very different temperaments.
The surprise appearance by the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by the Princess Royal , on The Good, the Bad and The Rugby, delighted royal fans when it was announced last September
‘And as they’re growing and trying out different sports – they’re obviously still really young – it’s gonna be interesting to see how that grows and develops.’
Elsewhere in the interview James revealed that Princess Anne ‘buried’ him with a witty comment.
He explained: ‘I won’t spoil the whole story but Princess Anne kind of buried me, she summed it up pretty well, Mike had told Prince William we were going on a cruise ship during the world cup and William asked was I going to be the anchor and I said “well it sounds something like that”, and Princess Anne said, “yes I can see that”.
Meanwhile Mike revealed that James, who appeared on the show in 2019, gave him some tips ahead of his I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here stint in 2022.
Mike said: ‘Cameras are on 24 hours a day, but you only see 20 minutes, so James advised me to stay out of anything that isn’t comfortable.
‘If all fails and you don’t understand the situation just go to the toilet, hide in the dunny.’
James added: ‘Someone sat down with me and said “Barack Obama is the most corrupt president we have ever seen”, I just got up and walked off because I’m not getting involved in this kind of stuff, you will have a difference of opinion and people sometimes forget where they are.
‘If all else fails got to the dunny, I sat behind that curtain so many times going “why did I agree to do this”.
During the discussion at Windsor Castle, the subject of competitiveness was raised, with Kate and William being asked about competition between them and one of the presenters revealing that Mike had compared them to Monica from sitcom Friend
Mike also discussed Prince William and Kate in his new book The Good, the Bad & the Rugby – Unleashed.
He said: ‘I think the podcast humanised them a little bit, and I kind of wish they’d let us put the uncut version out, because it would have blown the public away.’
He continued: ‘They came across as down-to-earth, fully engaged, funny and knowledgeable… it was a far more enlightening chat than I expected, not because I thought they’d be dull (I already knew that they weren’t), but because I know how everything to do with the royal family is so carefully controlled.’
The father-of-three also praised his mother-in-law, the Princess Royal, for knowing ‘more about sport than almost anyone I’ve met’ – although as a former equestrian Olympian, this may not be too much of a surprise for royal fans.
As he reflected on the podcast and his relationship with senior members of the royal family, Mike also discussed how the public perception of being a senior working royal is largely inaccurate and explained it’s about much more than ‘shaking a few hands’ and ‘cutting the odd ribbon’.
Instead, he continued, life as a senior member of The Firm is ‘all-consuming’ in an extract from his new book.
Tindall, who shares close relationships with several of his in-laws, added it was ‘frustrating’ to allow these myths to perpetuate but that he had learnt to ‘live with it’ over the years.
‘In fact, that’s one of the royal family’s mottos: ‘Never explain, never complain.’ I try not to think about it, although it took me a long time to get to that point,’ he continued.
Mike and Zara tied the knot at Canongate Kirk on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile on July 30, 2011
‘And I also try to be myself. Maybe that’s why I reverse pothole so much, because I want people to know that I’m actually a decent bloke, which goes back to wanting to be liked.’
Mike and Zara tied the knot at Canongate Kirk on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile on July 30, 2011.
Zara is the daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, making her 21st in line to the British throne.
She announced her engagement to Tindall, who designed the ring himself, in December 2010, four months before the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate tied the knot at Westminster Abbey.
Since their summer wedding in 2011, Mike and Zara’s down-to-earth personalities and their love-filled public appearances have endeared the royal couple to the British public.
They share three children, daughters Mia, 10, and Lena, six, and son, Lucas, three.
Elsewhere in his book, Mike recalled how joining the royal family after his 2011 wedding to Zara was ‘pretty easy for me’.
He reportedly wrote: ‘Believe it or not, marrying into the Royal family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really.’
The former rugby star also claimed life within the royal family was ‘nothing like Downton Abbey’, referring to Julian Fellowes’ much-loved period drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
In an extract from his book, he said: ‘I’m sometimes asked if the Queen did informality like “normal” people, and the answer to that is yes.
‘Her life wasn’t like an episode of Downton Abbey, with meals on long tables and everyone dressed in their finery every night.’
Instead, Mike continued, he and Zara would ‘often watch the racing with her’ on TV, as most other people ‘have done with their gran’.
The release of Mike’s new book comes on the same day that the paperback version of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare hits bookshelves.